1. Field of Invention
The present invention relates to litter or bedding for commercial poultry raising facilities, along with a process for improving and enhancing the commercial viability of these types of facilities. The invention also provides a valuable and economically attractive use of dried citrus peel byproduct or waste, including components thereof, for use as the litter or bedding in commercial poultry raising operations. Citrus byproduct can be used alone or in combination with traditional bedding components. The citrus byproduct improves the performance of the litter or bedding and significantly reduces the occurrence of poultry imperfections and enhances bird health and feed efficiency.
2. Description of Related Art
Current commercial-scale poultry raising operations house the poultry in confined spaces. Floors of those spaces traditionally are covered with bedding litter material. Feed and water is made available to the chicks so they can mature into adult birds which typically are intended as a food source. Generally, these are high volume facilities, and efficiency and cost control are extremely important. While the majority of these operations are for chicken production, other poultry can be included, such as turkey, ducks, geese and less common poultry as well.
In a typical commercial operation of this type, the poultry remains on the litter or bedding for the duration of its stay within the confined location. Under these circumstances, excretion and feces from the birds collect on the litter bed throughout the birds"" stay within the confined space. While the birds remain under these conditions, the volume of bird droppings increases throughout this confinement period. Under these conditions, conventional bedding litter materials tend to deteriorate, and their effectiveness in functioning to reduce contact between the birds and their droppings is severely tested. Many litter materials fail in their intended function, especially as the time during which the birds live on the litter increases. Furthermore, most litter materials do not provide any substantial active components to counteract the negative effects of the bird excrement.
Poor litter performance is undesirable. It can allow for contact between the birds and deleterious droppings components and/or resultant products such as ammonia. Used litter also becomes seeded with pathogens and fungi. Parasites, for example, can be found in poultry pen litter. Moist conditions typically contribute significantly to forming or providing a breeding ground for these types of negative litter quality factors, as noted in Lacy, xe2x80x9cLitter Quality and Broiler Performance,xe2x80x9d The University of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service, Athens, Ga., 1991, incorporated by reference hereinto. In some commercial poultry operations, litter is reused for multiple growing cycles, creating even greater challenges for the bedding litter.
Rehberger U.S. Pat. No. 5,945,333, incorporated by reference hereinto, recognizes these types of problems and their manifestation as foot pad lesions, breast blisters, and air sac infections, for example. This prior art patent proposes a biological solution to these litter problems by treating poultry litter with a composition for producing a certain blend of bacteria. This proposed type of treatment adds cost, can be perceived as a non-organic approach, and does not address the inherent deficiencies of conventional litter material itself.
Typically preferred litter material for poultry houses is a cellulosic litter from woody sources such as pine wood shavings and saw dust. As noted in the Lacy article, other proposed litter materials include various other cellulosic and woody materials, each having disadvantages as noted in that article. Included in this suggested litter material are hardwood shavings and sawdust, pine or hardwood chips, processed paper, rice hulls, peanut hulls, sugarcane pomace (bagasse), crushed corn cobs, and chopped straw, hay or corn stover.
While poultry house litter or bedding has long been recognized as falling far short of solving many problems associated with raising poultry under economically efficient but confining conditions which are typically characteristic of commercial poultry raising operations, a satisfactory and very economical solution still is needed.
Previously proposed approaches include adding expensive active agents to conventional bedding materials. While these may be useful in treating particular problems such as pathogens, they do so with added cost and require added worker time and/or they often do not address the larger overall issue of bed deterioration. Active agent addition typically is required when the same litter material is used for multiple growing cycles, usually being incorporated during turning or fluffing of the previously used litter right in the pen. At times, non-organic agents are proposed for these purposes and for either fresh or recycled litter.
A particularly desirable solution would be to be able to use an inexpensive natural source for litter or bedding components or as a litter material itself in order to address these types of long-standing problems. Effective materials which do not require processing to be suitable for use in fresh or recycled bedding litter are recognized herein as being of value in this regard.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing litter or litter components which are inexpensive, widely available and advantageous as litter material. The invention provides a bedding litter for poultry raising houses which has as the litter material itself, either alone or combined with other litter materials, citrus byproduct which is dried citrus peel from citrus operations or components from dried citrus peel or pulp byproduct or waste from citrus juice extraction. The invention also entails a process for enhancing commercial poultry raising operations, which includes placing dried citrus peel byproduct material onto the floor area of a space within which poultry chicks are raised until they achieve a size suitable for commercial meat supplies, while reducing poultry imperfections and adjusted feed conversion.
An object of the present invention is to provide an improved bedding litter for commercial poultry operations or to improve existing bedding litter for these types of uses.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an improved poultry litter and poultry raising process through the use of a natural organic source of bedding litter which controls ammonia development and reduces the frequency of the development of imperfections in poultry during the course of their contact with the litter.
Another object of this invention is to provide an improved poultry litter composition and poultry raising enhancement process by which a change in the composition of the poultry litter itself addresses substantial problems in poultry raising.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an economically beneficial and productive outlet for large quantities of solid byproduct from commercial citrus juice expressing operations.
A further object of this invention is to provide a product and process which enhances the effectiveness of poultry feed in translating into bird weight.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a product and process in the poultry litter business where litter components remain as in tact particles that are not substantially degraded, do not turn to compost, and do not cake together in the manner experienced by conventionally used current bedding litters.
Another object of embodiments of this invention is to provide improved product and process advances which use effective and inexpensive litter material in its xe2x80x9cnativexe2x80x9d state without requiring extraction, isolation or purification.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a poultry bedding litter which, after use as a litter, provides a natural or organic source of animal food or fertilizer with acceptable nutrients and of a more positive environmental character.
These and other objects and advantages of the present invention will be understood from the following description according to preferred embodiments of the present invention, relevant information concerning which is shown in the accompanying drawings.